12 Jun Music school’s move to Deco District hits all the right notes, board president says

The nonprofit bART Center for Music has agreed to a five-year lease to occupy a third-floor space in the Price Family Properties-owned One Main Plaza, 1 S. Main St., bART Board President Tanner Sturm said Friday. Plans already are underway for lessons and performances to be conducted in Chapman Centennial Green across the street, he said.

The school, which is set to relocate in July and open its door to students and faculty in August, has been at 907 S. Detroit Ave. the past seven years, Sturm said.

“We’re in downtown currently but at Ninth and Detroit, there’s no walking traffic,” he said. “It’s on the outskirts. Being a downtown community music school has always been part of our identity. We felt like we needed to look closer to the core of downtown.”

The new location is roughly 10,000 square feet of renovated space, said Daniel Regan, executive vice president and director of leasing for Price Family Properties.

“Price Family Properties is very excited to welcome bART Center for Music and these incredibly talented musicians, artists and instructors to the downtown area,” Regan said.

“We’re confident that their presence and the music that will fill the park adjacent to their new space will be amazing for adding to the vibrancy of downtown.”

Formerly the Barthelmes Conservatory, the center started in 2001 as a spinoff of an Oklahoma State University research project on the effects of music on the ability of schoolchildren to retain math and reading skills.

Today, it provides music education to students — regardless of ability to pay — and offers private and group music lessons for piano, cello, violin, viola, bass, flute, African drums, guitar and voice, with plans to expand to Saturday morning and Early Childhood classes.